


Community Service

by yellowflower321



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Hogwarts Sixth Year, Mystery, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-20
Packaged: 2021-03-14 22:55:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 10,724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29303814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/yellowflower321/pseuds/yellowflower321
Summary: Ellie has had to work twice as hard to prove her worth at Hogwarts as a muggle-born Slytherin. Earning respect from her fellow house members hasn't been easy. But when a quidditch match goes awry, she's forced to complete a community service project with her least favorite teammate (and potentially person), Draco Malfoy.As time passes he becomes more insufferable to Ella, but also more confusing. Where does he sneak off to so often? Why does he need to keep it secret? Well...curiosity killed the cat.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Original Female Character(s)
Comments: 1
Kudos: 3





	1. Training Session

Ellie dismounted her broom with a thud, her breathing ragged. She felt like she needed to hit someone.

"That was bullshit and you know it Blaise!" She yelled accusingly at the mass of teammates in the air. Some laughed and punched each other in the shoulder, others barely even noticed. A loan member flew gracefully to the ground beside her, his stoic expression matching his intimidating appearance. 

"I told you not to lose our shape, and what did you do? You completely disregarded that," Blaise retorted calmly, but the fire behind his eyes made it clear that this was as serious as it came. "It's a team sport, Ellie."

"Obviously I know that. It's not my fault that Malfoy is useless and needs me to protect his ass! Did you see what he did last drill? He nearly went to second base with a bludger," she responded, "That's no reason to have those goons up there nearly knock me off my broom."

"I almost wish they had." Blaise stated, coming off from his broom and moving to look down at her sternly. Ellie's face went red with anger and embarrassment. If Malfoy hadn't been such an idiot and gone rogue with the play then they wouldn't be having this conversation.

"Listen, you know I'm one of the strongest players you have. I think we both know I wouldn't have left that spot open if I didn't have to, so leave it alone. I'm not asking for a lot here, just help me out here with them," she gestured up to the players above her still flying, "they aren't going to respect me unless it's clear you do. We'll need that if we want any chance against Gryffindor next week."

Blaise nodded thoughtfully. She knew he wanted to act tough in front of his team, but what she said was the truth. Last week they had barely beat Ravenclaw except for her game winning point, and against Gryffindor she had been MVP twice this season. Well, it would have been three if the refs weren't so biased. Or maybe if she hadn't called him some choice names when he made an opposite call; that probably would have helped her case. Regardless, she was good at what she did and it was because she worked hard. That hard work would get her nowhere, though, if Blaise didn't help her hold the respect of her teammates.

In her first year on the team, two senior members had pushed her off the broom during a game. Somehow, they were more willing to risk playing a man down then admit that a "mudblood" was good enough to make the roster. When she hit the ground that day the pain of her injuries was mixed with the sting of that awful word. She stayed in the healing ward for a week before the skelegrow healed her broken bones and she was cleared to play again. She debated during the whole healing process if she should even go back. She dealt with enough name-calling and judgmental stares in her classes. The quidditch environment was way worse, the athletic adrenaline made people much more prone to being the worst to her. It was a lot to handle, who wanted to be attacked for existing every time they went on to the pitch? She had wanted so bad to make real friends. Like the muggle teams she was a part of in the summer, but clearly that was not going to happen here. The blatant disrespect she made her feel like quitting, and she almost did, until Blaise had talked her out of it.

He didn't exactly like her at the time, but he was extremely competitive, and he knew they had played well together whenever they both were on the pitch. It was him who convinced the captain at the time to keep her on. That is if you call beating the living daylights out of someone "convincing." He was younger at the time, but not much weaker. There was a reason he was so respected on the team, and since then they had developed a comradery then out of respect. She became his training partner in the off time, and Ellie slowly began making him go to Hogsmeade and eating with her at the Great Hall. He wouldn't admit it now because he was not one to be sentimental, but they were friends.

That was another reason he wished to act threatening towards her in front of the team. He couldn't show any form of favoritism and risk losing the respect and his newly gained captaincy. She understood that, but right now she felt as if she'd had enough. 

"Either ask me to leave now, or end the practice," she offered, crossing her arms, "either way I will see you at this weekend's game." She knew he wasn't stupid enough to actually suspend her. He sighed, "fine. See you then."

With that he hopped back on his broom and moved towards the team calling them in a huddle. Ellie turned on her heels to leave, confident that Blaise was making up massive lies about the conversation that had just happened. 

\-----------

Ellie pulled on her regular shoes before grabbing her gym bag. She closed the locker with her quidditch equipment and began to walk out of the locker room. Just then, the team burst in after their post-training talk.

"In a little trouble there, aren't we miss?" Ugh. That voice made her grimace. She turned to face the owner of the voice, who had snobbishly rested his arm against a locker since entering the room. The room was full of athletic students, but Draco stood out differently with his tall and slender build. There was a reason he stood out amongst them, Ellie thought to herself, and that was that he didn't belong here. She made fierce eye contact with his grey eyes, his blonde hair barely tarnished from the practice. Made sense.

"Whatever daddy's money," she snapped, "talk to me when you actually want to put some work into practice. We're here to win, not just prance around with our fancy broomsticks."

He scoffed, "ah so you don't want it then?" He gestured to the broomstick he knew was in her locker.

She didn't dignify him with an answer. It wasn't like she could afford a broom like that and he knew it. She pushed passed him and left the locker room.

One more day of school and the game was upon them. She needed to be in peak form for then, she had heard there were some scouts coming from the pro leagues. 

What she didn't need was some team rivalry getting in the way.


	2. The Day Before

The next morning, Ellie woke from bed to the sound of her alarm blaring in her ear. Half awake, she went for the snooze button out of habit. Just another minute or two...

The alarm came again, somehow sounding louder. "Are you going to switch that off??" she heard Daphne yell groggily. With an effort, Ellie turned off her alarm and forced herself to sit up. She very much wished she was a morning person, but she was probably the most opposite you could be. Which was too bad, because the morning was the best time to do what she was about to do.

After managing to put on some athletic clothes, she went to the bathroom and stared at the reflection in the mirror. Her brown hair was a mess that she whipped into a quick ponytail, and she didn't like that there were under-eye bags forming under her eyes. Was she not sleeping enough? She knew she was tired all the time but she thought she had been taking care of herself. She sighed, nothing a bit of concealer couldn't fix later she supposed.

When she was ready to leave, she passed through the quiet common room and checked the time. 7:30, right on time miraculously. Only Pansy was awake, reading up on some test materials it looked like.

"Morning Pansy," Ellie attempted to appear cheerful, still tired herself. Pansy barely glanced up at her. She wasn't exactly her best friend. Ellie had always tried her best to be civil with Pansy, she was good in school and seemed like a lot of fun when she wanted to be, but she did not seem to want anything to do with her. Usually that would be fine, but she suspected her being close with Malfoy might have something to do with the dislike.

Ellie opened the door to the Slytherin common room to see Ginny and Hermione waiting just outside. "Guys I've told you the password to get in a hundred times you can let yourself in instead of waiting here"

"I guarantee we're not welcome there," Ginny piped up, "plus it makes me feel cold. Like, you realize it's literally in a dungeon right?"

Ellie laughed, "yeah but we have the cool lake view remember?" 

"I'd still prefer, I don't know, sunlight?" Ginny answered, a smile on her face, "well anyways, let's get going. I want to get this work in before Charms. Hermione you're helping me pass that test today right?" She looked over at Hermione beside her and batted her eyelashes.

"If you mean by helping you with a last minute study session then I suppose so. I don't know what you've been doing for the last week though. Can't you skip your session with Ellie today?" Hermione turned to Ellie, "no offence I know it's important."

"None taken, Ginny if you want to skip today I get it."

"Absolutely not!" Ginny interjected, "The game is tomorrow and I SWEAR I saw the Harpies logo on someone's jacket being led inside by McGonagall. Unless this is some ploy to outperform me, hmmm..."

"Oh yeah that's it," Ellie replied dryly, "let's just go and stop wasting time. Seems like you'll need it."

\-----------------------------

After an hour or so of training together and various exercises, Ellie and Ginny entered their last lap. Hermione sat on the bleachers doing some work. She said she liked to do her homework some place quiet and different, and having Ginny motivate her to wake up helped. This had become a bit of a routine between the three of them. 

She had met Ginny a little unconventionally. Of course, they were on rival quidditch teams being from different houses. They played an especially hard match in fifth year that led to a lot of competition between the two of them. Despite being enemies on the pitch, Ginny approached her afterwards and they had a laugh. Ginny was one of the best players Ellie had ever seen. They developed a quick friendship over their love of the game, and Ellie was instantly enamored by her carefree attitude. She was always trying to set her up with "cool guys who weren't Slytherin losers" and bringing her to the best parties. She had met Hermione through her, and while it took a bit of time, they connected as well. She was so busy that finding time to make new friends wasn't her priority. 

When Hermione had approached her about Dumbledore's Army, she instantly said yes. She felt like that level of trust had built up their relationship significantly, and she was happy that she had friends other than Blaise.

They finished their lap and began catching their breath, hands on knees.

"Ginny I'm sorry but you don't have time to catch your breath, if you wanna pass this test we have to start now." Hermione said, an expression of genuine concern across her face. She always cared so deeply about her friends, Ellie loved that about her.

"Ugh, alright. Walk and talk then let's go." Ginny grumbled as they began walking away together, Hermione pulling out parchment.

"Bye Ellie!" They called out, "Stay sharp!" yelled Ginny.

Ellie smiled and waved at them before heading back to her room.

\--------------------------------------

You would think magical schooling would be interesting, but Ellie wanted nothing more than to get out of class. Snape drawled on for what seemed like hours about...potions? She didn't know. She was a good student but it was the end of the week and her mind was focused on the next day.

"Ellie," She perked up at the sound of her name coming from the professor's mouth, "do you know what the last ingredient of this healing potion is?" He looked at her blankly. She had been taught by him for years, and he was the house leader, he knew what he was doing. It was obvious she didn't know the answer and he was going to make her embarrassed for it. Shit.

"Umm...brandywort?" She guessed a common ingredient. She heard snickers across the classroom, clearly the wrong answer.

"The answer is simply ginger, maybe pay attention instead of daydreaming and you would know I just said that. Five points from Slytherin."

The Slytherins in the class shot daggers at her with their eyes, while the other houses had grins pasted on their faces. Great, it didn't take a lot to break down a reputation of a muggle-born in Slytherin and house points were a way to do it.

With class dismissed she left in a hurry.

"Anything else stupid you'd like to say?" Malfoy asked as he came up behind her, "got some more house points you want to toss away? It's not like we had some actual respectable Slytherin's earn those points so you could just give them away..."

"I get it Malfoy, I'll never be human and mess up my bad." She replied shortly. He paused for a second and seemed to size her up. She looked up at him, his expression was always either icy or smug. Today's was icy. 

"You wouldn't be messing up like that if you were meant to be here. How do you take yourself seriously? I mean if I were you I would have asked the sorting hat if it had made a mistake. Or the headmaster for even letting you get into this school." He shrugged, "but c'est la vie. Hopefully you can prove you have an actual use beyond being a placeholder tomorrow." He looked her up and down before leaving, Crabbe and Goyle on his heels.

Damn, she should have said something. It was so annoying to freeze up like that, made her feel weak. He could have said worse though, he HAD said worse to her before.

The day had not gone well, admittedly, but it was over. Her time to shine was tomorrow. The Slytherin's were elite but they all respected quidditch professionals. Tomorrow was her chance to cement the reputation she'd always wanted. A Slytherin that didn't feel like an imposter.


	3. The Match

"You look like shit El," Blaise told her the next night, "take an anxiety potion or something."

"I can't, it has some plant that shows up as performance enhancing."

"Fine, then take a walk, the energy you're giving off is not helping my pre-game routine." That was the end of that conversation she guessed. He turned around abruptly back to the Slytherin locker room, leaving Ellie to panic in silence. She rushed to stand underneath the massive structure of bleachers behind the arena. It felt quiet in comparison to the roaring crowd on top and what felt like thousands of people working to get the area perfect before the match. She took some deep breaths and stared down at her gloved hands. She'd felt like throwing up the whole day with nerves; somehow she hadn't been able to convince herself that the game was just like any other today. Ellie fixed the sleeves of her quidditch uniform and adjusted the neckline. She loved the way it looked on her, so crisp and clean, she felt powerful wearing it. Especially on a night like tonight. Playing under the lights, the green of her uniform emerald underneath them. With that in the forefront of her mind she took one last deep breath before kneeling to adjust her shoes. 

From that angle, she saw two figures in the distance. She couldn't tell who they were, but they seemed to be in a hushed conversation. Who has an intense conversation like this hidden under the bleachers right before a match was to start? She went through guesses in her head, with the biggest ones being either students putting money on the game, some kind of drug deal, or maybe even cheating. Any of those options made her curious enough to find out which one, more so to answer her own question than anything else. 

She moved closer to them slowly, the darkness under the bleachers keeping her hidden as long as she stayed quiet. She silently thanked it for already being dark outside, otherwise she would have been spotted immediately. She took one step at a time, never taking her eyes off of the two people. Ellie was inching close enough now to see that one was a woman wearing a cloak, a few wild strands of hair falling out from underneath the hood. She stood in front of a taller figure, their back facing Ellie. She couldn't tell much about the second figure, they had a billowing cloak that obstructed any possible curves or identifiable features. Ellie peered out further from the pillar she was hiding behind to get more details. She wasn't planning on being away from the team much longer, she just had to make sure Gryffindor wasn't planning to cheat their way to a win. 

She heard whispers and an angry retort from the woman. She grabbed the second figures forearm aggressively and pulled out her wand. The second person was clearly trying to get out of her grasp. Leaning forward, Ellie made out the face of the woman-she had known her from somewhere before.

It was at that moment that she had kicked an empty pop can that had been left under the bleachers. Shit.

The woman snapped to make eye contact with her, wand raised. Holy shit she was-

On the quidditch pitch. Why did she feel so strange? What play were they even trying to run? 

"Ellie, get your head in the game!" Blaise snapped while racing by her on his broom. Ellie stayed suspended midair and dazed. She had been doing something. Was it a different play? Maybe she was protecting their useless seeker again. Speaking of the devil, Malfoy pulled up beside her.

"Feeling alright there Mudblood?" He sneered. 

"I-umm. I was doing something before, was it helping you again?"

He looked confused. Or maybe it was because he was sitting on his broom sideways. Wait no, she was slowly leaning that way. Was her broom malfunctioning? Apparently spending money didn't always buy quality. She was falling...very slowly. Draco reached out his arm and stabilized her.

"You weren't before. But you'll be helping me now." He smirked. 

\-------------------

"Miss Turner?" She snapped at her name being called. She made direct eye contact with the person across the desk from her, Dumbledore. What happened? How was she in the office? Did she pass out during the game? That would have been so embarrassing in front of the scouts.

"Do you accept your punishment? It is not my wish to force anything more harsh as up until this point you have been an exceptional student here at Hogwarts." He explained, searching her flabbergasted expression. Punishment for what? God, her head was pounding.

"I'll take that as a yes," he continued, "and Mr. Malfoy I assume you accept as well?" Draco was here? She turned to the chair beside her and noticed him sitting absolutely still. His expression was stone-faced, but he allowed a slight smile and nod as he accepted the punishment.

"Community service it is. The Room of Requirement has somehow lost it's ability to change after the events of last year. With all the evil in the world right now I want to make an event of pure youthful fun for the school. I will task you two with transforming the current room into a fantastic ballroom for a schoolwide dance." He smiled, looking very proud of himself. Malfoy scoffed. Ellie became more confused, but her head hurt too much to focus on forming a sentence.

"It may seem ridiculous but with the Dark Lord returning, we need all the positivity we can get for the students who aren't so..." he turned to Ellie knowing her involvement in DA, "closely affected." Draco tensed.

"You start tomorrow, and within a few months we will see your result" He clapped his hands together.

"And if we choose another form of punishment?" grumbled Draco.

"You will not choose it I promise you that." Dumbledore retorted, his gaze like thunder. With that statement the meeting concluded, and Ellie felt herself tilt back in the chair and succumb to her throbbing headache, fading into the darkness.

********************

AUTHOR'S NOTE: The atmosphere up to this point may have seemed super cheery and focused on mundane events despite the year that this takes place in (6th) and that's on purpose. This is through Ellie's perspective, and well she has connections to the DA and is friends with them, she isn't affected as much. There will be a shift in tone as she gets more closely connected to darker events/people. Thanks so much for reading so far!!


	4. Day One

Ellie's eyelids fluttered open slowly, she felt as if glue were holding them shut. When her eyes opened and began to focus she was startled to see Ginny staring at her.

"What gives Ginny?" Ellie asked, her voice groggy and feeling not quite her own. She was exhausted.

"I don't like how surprised you are that your friend actually showed up to the hospital wing to see you." Ginny answered, a slight playfulness in her tone despite the clearly concerned expression across her face. She looked as if she hadn't slept in a while. Her hair was up out of her face and Ellie could clearly see the bags under her eyes seemed deep and recent. "I've been waiting for you to wake up, Hermione was here for a while but I couldn't keep her from everything for too long."

She gave a tight-lipped smile to Ellie and put a comforting hand on her shoulder as she pushed herself into a seated position.

"What happened? Why am I in the hospital wing?" Ellie asked, massaging her temples with her fingertips. Slowly snippets of the night she las remembered came back to her. The quidditch match. The confusion. Dumbledore's office. She couldn't make sense of it.

"Well you've been out for almost two days, whatever you did to your head was major. Don't worry they've had healers in and they were able to clear everything right up but they said you were lucky there wasn't any sort of long term damage." Ginny explained, "Although most of us are still confused about why exactly your head was injured in the first place."

"Count me with those people. I know you're saying there was no damage, but I'm struggling to get a clear picture of what happened. I remember being at the game, being at Dumbledore's office about something and then now. What am I missing here?" Ellie asked desperately. She hated whatever this feeling was of not being able to place the events that lead up to her injury. It was all so hazy.

"Well I assume you at least remember what happened at the game, and why you were in Dumbledore's office. Which -by the way- we need to talk about because what the hell was that?" Ellie looked at her trying to read her friend's expression. Regardless of what she as thinking it was clear she wasn't joking around. 

"No-I. I don't know what happened," Ginny raised her eyebrows, "seriously."

"Well you were off your game for most of the match which was surprising, but it wasn't anything crazy. That is, until part way through the match when you and Malfoy had a kumbaya in the middle of the pitch." Ginny physically reacted to Malfoy's name as she mentioned it.

"Well...now that you mention it I do remember talking to him. I was helping him with something, and he stabilized me when I was falling off my broom."

"Well he didn't do a very good job of it then. A bludger came screaming towards you and you didn't even move. One of your lucky teammates took the brunt of it for you. I wouldn't have noticed except I hit it in your direction," she smiled sheepishly, "not to hit you of course. I was aiming for Malfoy. Either way I saw you and you were clearly out of it, maybe even on something. You were just staring forward so blankly. That's when he pushed you off your broom."

"He what??" She didn't have time to process her own actions yet so she was going to focus on Draco first. "He certainly doesn't like me but he wouldn't risk a loss to spite me. He's too calculating for a stunt like that anyways."

"I don't know, it didn't seem that deep. He pushed you and that's all I care about. He did it directly in front of Dumbledore and the scouts too which seemed pretty dumb to me. Based on what you remember though I assume you don't know why you also were punished."

Ellie shook her head, reaching for memories that weren't there.

"After I caught you I was flying you back to where your broom was suspended and you- well umm you hexed half the scouts, and..." Ginny grimaced, "I think you may have laughed about it too." Ellie stared at her, mouth agape. Her heart sunk to the bottom of her stomach.

"Well obviously someone drugged me then." Ellie stammered, unable to comprehend what Ginny had just told her.

"That's what we thought too. But nothing showed up in the medical scanning spells." Ginny looked at her a moment before quickly adding, "obviously something happened though. The healers think it may have been some kind of reaction to the major stress you put yourself under and possibly almost dying. Sometimes people just break and need to take it out. And wherever you got your head injury from before made it way easier to put yourself in that place. Do you remember hitting your head somewhere right before the game?"

"I remember something about the bleachers." Ellie offered.

"Well maybe you hit your head against a pillar or something and went to the game anyways. Memory loss this intense isn't common though." Ginny pondered that thought but came with no answer. She sighed. "Either way I am glad you are back despite that wild shit you pulled. Oh and whenever you feel better I'm supposed to tell you to go to the Room of Requirement to start working on the community service."

\-----------------------------

A day later the pain in her head had completely subsided, but her memories had not returned. Well, at least parts of them. Ginny had helped fill in a few of the blank spots in the day's timeline but she still had so many questions. There wasn't any way she wasn't drugged to do something as idiotic as that. But how had the scan not detected anything? She even pursued the healers more about the topic. No potion, spells or anything else detected. Ellie asked Hermione when she saw her to do some research if she had the time, she had said that her story seemed odd enough to be worth investigating.

For now, she was reporting for her first session of community service. She hoped doing something mind-numbing like working with Draco on a mundane task may cause her memories to casually re-insert themselves somehow. She sighed as she turned the corner towards the long corridor that held the Room of Requirement. Ellie clutched her notebooks to her chest. She hoped that a brainstorm session today would be enough interaction with Malfoy for the duration of the project. She looked down briefly at the unused paper. Seemed a waste to use a new notebook on something as useless as a school dance while the Wizarding World was potentially hanging in the balance. At least she could wear something that wasn't a nightgown anymore though.

As she approached the entrance to the room she saw Draco leaning against it waiting for her. She wasn't ready for all the emotions seeing his face gave her. He really had tried to kill her. This wasn't about stupid remarks anymore, and as much as she wished it didn't; it scared her. 

"You're late." He stated, his expression unreadable. His all-black ensemble screamed wealthy, the classic portrayal of what it was to be Slytherin elite. The rings on his slender fingers probably could have paid for anything she wanted. He brought his hands to the door handle without having his gaze leave hers. He opened it and gestured for her to enter first. "After you." She hesitated.

"Sorry. Just questioning whether or not I should walk into a room with the person who tried to kill me walking behind me." Ellie explained sarcastically. His mouth twitched, but Malfoy found his cold demeanor fast.

"If I had wanted to kill you I could have and I would have," Draco assured her, his grey eyes like storm clouds, "but alas I will go in first. We have work to do and I do not have time to waste." He walked into the room with that, and Ellie paused before following him. 

What the hell did that even mean? Does it matter that he didn't "want to kill her" if he still tried to? She struggled to follow that logic. But knowing Dumbledore would watch her every move, she had to at least show up to day one of her service as she said she would. He wouldn't willingly put her in a room with someone who was determined to kill her would he? Honestly she didn't know the answer to that. He didn't seem to have the best judge of character, she thought, remembering all of the dark arts professors.

Clenching her fists and straightening her back, she pushed forward into the room. It was enormous. She had expected that, being as Dumbledore had declared it fit for the whole school to be involved, but seeing it in person was a different case. The room in front of her looked like it went on forever, the ceilings the highest she had ever seen. It seemed grand, but so dilapidated. It was dingy and dark and if there was something to be broken - it was. Hermione had told her something like this might happen. So many people using the room that it gave up on itself, but that was an understatement. No wonder Dumbledore projected the completion of the service to take so long.

Draco sat at a table in the middle of the room using his wand to move around the empty containers that sat on the table.

"Decided to join me then?" Draco asked smugly as Ellie approached him. She dropped the notebook with a thud on the table. 

"I'm sure you don't want to be here and neither do I. Let's get some ideas down as best we can now so that Dumbledore will stay off our backs for a while." She told him, not really caring if he agreed. She knew it would be so much faster to get out of that room if they finished quickly and efficiently.

He looked ready to say something, before holding his tongue. "Fine."


	5. The Cleanup

The next month passed slowly, with no answers to her mysterious condition and no returning memories. Often in this time, Ellie had woken up in a sweat, rising from a nightmare where she had been in tremendous pain. She wasn't one to really have nightmares usually so she found it very alarming. Hermione had told her that Harry was prone to nightmares too and maybe she talk to him, but she couldn't imagine asking "the chosen one" for advice for her problems. He probably had nightmares from having to defeat the dark lord his entire school career, she figured she was just recovering from a head injury.

When she had first left the hospital Ellie went to find Blaise. When she eventually found him, he was doing extra training.

"Hey," Ellie had approached him timidly, and awkwardly waved to get his attention. He stopped what he was doing, dropping the weight in his hands, and sat up on the bench. Sweat drenched his shirt and clung tightly to his athletic figure. Damn, she'd always wanted abs.

"So you're alive then." Blaise responded, still breathing heavy from the workout. He wiped his forehead, and looked up at Ellie. From his expression he was either happy to see her or unbothered, it was hard to tell. She put both hands into the pocket of her baggy sweatshirt, shifting the weight between her two feet to combat the awkward silence. She was hoping he'd say something else than just that.

"Yep, still kicking. They said I'll be able to get back on the pitch in two weeks." She said cheerily, hoping for a reaction. If he didn't care that she was back, he might as well care about a player returning.

"And you probably would be. If I hadn't made the decision to suspend you for longer than that amount of time." He made sure to make eye contact with her when he said that. Ellie was shocked, but not surprised. She'd heard a lot of that since she had gotten out of the hospital ward.

"Alright. How long will that be?"

"Indefinitely." Blaise replied, his gaze unmoving. He kept his voice calm, probably the one time he fully considered how she felt. If he said that she was suspended indefinitely with his usual uncaring tone he probably would have received a slap across the face.

"You're kidding right? You can't actually mean that." She stammered.

"I can't actually mean that I am relieving this team of a liability? You lost us the game first off, then you insulted the honor of being a Slytherin player by hexing the most important people to me in the crowd. I wanted to be noticed by them as much as you did, I thought we had that in common. Apparently you had some point to prove that went over everyone's heads. What were you thinking?" He looked genuinely upset, maybe even hurt.

"What about Malfoy in all this? He tried to kill me."

"From what most people saw you tried it first, I can't necessarily fault him for what he did. I probably wouldn't have even punished him if I were Dumbledore, but the guy is progressive he probably wants you two to get along. Now answer the question, what were you thinking?"

"First off, believe me when I say that was not the case. Second, I'll tell you what I told everyone- I wasn't thinking. I don't remember any of it. I was drugged or- or something." He looked up at her almost with pity, he didn't believe her. 

"I-I went to the hospital ward to see you...when you first got there," Blaise sounded like he struggled to say that out loud, "I thought that too, that someone had gave you a potion or there was even some kind of spell controlling you. But they told me, El, they found nothing. I'm just so confused why you did that, why you're potentially lying about what happened to everyone-" Ellie went to cut him off but he held a hand up, continuing, "I know that you're going to say that someone else made you do it. But I'd rather you just tell me the truth. What happened that night? And what you said to me, as we were about to start the game, did you mean that?"

Ellie paused, at a loss for words at the shocking amount of emotion that he was showing for once. "Blaise, I- I am telling you the truth. And, well, the last part I can't say. I don't remember." He scoffed and rolled his eyes, a small smile formed as he looked at his hands.

"I thought you and I understood each other. I thought-" he stopped, "nevermind. I guess if you really need someone I'll be there, but don't make me high on that list." He stood up and pushed past her.

Ellie just stood there unable to comprehend how much was happening because of one night. She wasn't lying to him, she was sure of it. But what had she said to him before the game? She pushed herself to remember but nothing came. She let out and angry noise, alone in the Slytherin gym. Then, she picked up a weight and threw it against the wall. It hit the wall with thud, leaving a hole in its place. She pulled out her wand to fix it immediately, but stopped. This is to you Blaise, my first real friend at Hogwarts. She stuck up her middle finger and stared at the hole, leaving in a huff. Outside her actions were strong and angry, but inside her heart felt shattered as she fought the tears forming there.

\-------------------------

It had been two weeks since that conversation, and a month since the incident. It felt like the her real life was also becoming a nightmare. She passed Blaise in the hallways often, him always ignoring her. She saw Ginny and Hermione like usual, but they had their own issues to deal with when it came to Harry. It was understandable.

Unfortunately, the most interaction she had with someone outside of class was with Draco in the Room of Requirement. They had focused on the plan they had briefly created together. The first step was that the only priority at the moment was to clean the space. The magic was so off in the room that often times items wouldn't move or clean themselves without actual energy.

"I'm not going to clean this up myself, this is ridiculous." Draco had complained in the first week.

"Are you kidding? Just do it princess, how else do you think it's going to get done?" Ellie had said. Her patience for other people was getting lower and lower the less interactions she had, and Malfoy seemed to press her buttons without even trying.

He stormed off to the other side of the room to, she assumed, move barely anything. From that point on step two of their work together had been established, pretend each other didn't exist. That rule had been going strong for almost the whole month now. They worked at different ends of the room and besides a double checking of where things were to go, that was the end of it. The progress they had made in a month was gradual but made a massive difference. The room somehow looked bigger and more elegant. It still seemed dark and a little bit dreary, but it certainly seemed more like a ballroom. 

Dumbledore had come in at the end of the month to check on their project. He had told them separately that he was coming earlier that day, so they arrived early and silently cleaned some easier to deal with areas. Then, when it was about time, they headed to the one table in the middle near the entrance and waited for him to arrive. They sat there on opposite ends of the table for some time before Ellie adjusted her seating position. Draco looked with disgust.

"Seriously? You're going to judge me for how I sit now too?" Ellie broke into the silence, "I'm literally sitting normally."

"I'm not judging you for how you're sitting. I don't think you understand, you don't have to DO anything for me to feel disgusted by you." He smirked. God, what a pain in the ass. She wasn't even sure he believed that, he just liked the reactions he got from her.

"Thank you, really." She said shaking her head and turning the other way, basically begging Dumbledore to walk into the room.

"Don't look away on my account now." She heard him say.

"Of all the people I wish treated me the same today as they did a month ago, I don't see why it had to be you." Ellie muttered. He surprised her by letting out a laugh. She turned towards him.

"You care too much what other people think of you. Besides your priorities could be significantly different right now. Much worse I assure you."

"Oh is this if you had let me die when you pushed me off that broom?"

"In a way I suppose." He shrugged at this.

"What does that mean-" In that moment, Dumbledore burst through the doors. He looked preoccupied.

"This will be quick I hope. No problems to announce?" They both shook their heads, neither of them seemed to have the intention of pissing him off. "Good, good. Well the progress-" he looked around, "is certainly good enough. If possible I want it faster. Draco, I would like you to come with me dear boy." Draco looked extremely -she guessed by his expression- uncomfortable with the idea but obliged. He stood up from his chair and moved towards the doorway with Dumbledore's arm around his back, he noticeably tensed up.

Ellie sighed and grabbed her bag. Her community service time was up that night anyways so she followed suit of Dumbledore and Draco. One month in, things could only get better from here, she thought. Time heals, and time would hopefully erase whatever happened that night.


	6. October

Ellie woke up in a sweat one again. The scream she had released in her sleep had become a gasp for air as she awakened. Her breathing was ragged as she clutched her chest where her heart was racing wildly. Eyes wide with panic, she slowly let the mundane room around her begin to calm her down. She absently massaged her left forearm with her other fingers, it felt as if the pain from the nightmare had transcended to the waking hours. It stung. An odd combination between the feeling of a burn and a bruise. She was too tired to care about any pain she was feeling from likely sleeping on her arm the wrong way, Ellie had been cramming for exams way too late for her liking. She took a calming breath and began to give in to the heavy feeling of her eyelids. She never had more than one nightmare in a night, she reasoned with herself, so now was the time to fall into a deep sleep. 

The next morning she woke to the sound of her alarm exhausted, desperate to go back to sleep. After some convincing, she decided against snoozing and forced herself out of bed. In a few minutes, eyelids struggling to stay open, she had made her way into the common room wearing workout clothes warm enough for the increasingly cold weather. This exercise was slowly becoming the one thing she could rely on. She had no more quidditch practice, no more Blaise to bother and increasingly less time with Ginny and Hermione. The two of them hadn't shown up to their usual meeting the other morning. Ginny had come to her apologetically later that day after Ellie had decided to run the laps by herself.

"Ellie, I'm so sorry, things have just been-happening, you know?" She struggled to find the words, that was clear in her face. Ellie knew that look. It meant it had to do with Harry and Voldemort that him and his close friends were constantly berated with. She knew Ginny wanted to tell her the truth of what was really going on, but it wasn't her place. Ellie could understand that. She would be by Harry's side in a heartbeat if the rumors became reality and war once again struck the wizarding world, but she wasn't exactly his confidant. She couldn't imagine fighting the fight he did every year, and she doubted she even knew the extent of it. She was sort of on the outskirts when it came to information about his cause. As a DA member her loyalties had been established and she had been told of the prophecy, but the missions she had been on were low stakes compared to the core members. She was a silent supporter in a way.

She reached her hand out to touch Ginny's arm, reassuring her that she understood. "You don't have to explain yourself," she emphasized, "and...Harry is lucky to have you. I think he feels the same way." She had seen how Ginny was about Harry, even if she claimed it was just a childhood crush. Ginny blushed brightly.

"Thank you, Ellie," She look pleased but a little embarrassed. Ellie began turning away from her in the hallway, before Ginny would see her sadness and feel guilty, when Ginny chimed in, "Hey! I have an idea. Gryffindor is throwing a massive party at the end of the month. Please say you'll go with me! Don't wear green." She smirked.

Ellie laughed, "Yes of course. Walk with me to class?" Ginny nodded and smiled and they talked about meaningless things and boys until she got to charms.

Since it had been a week and she'd pretty much only seen Ginny in passing. Hermione was fully disappeared, between her classes and doing extra research for Harry. Ellie walked into the common room now and observed the Slytherin décor. When she first arrived at Hogwarts she almost never left the window looking out at the lake. Some of that whimsy had left her after the Triwizard Tournament, but nonetheless the blue hue on the mainly green and stone room was weirdly a home feeling. She sighed and put on her shoes to head outside.

Once she was on the grounds she took a massive deep breath and let the brisk air snap her to life. The cold burned her nostrils and forced her to take an extra quick breath in from shock. This was just what she needed. She never had a plan when she started in the mornings, just to do what she needed to do. Ellie began running and heard the familiar rhythm of her running shoes against the cobble stone pathway. The wind intensified at her face with the movement. Feeling good, she broke into a quicker pace. Breathing got harder and her heart beat faster, her legs starting to burn as she kept going. She was far along the path now almost at Hogsmeade, things were getting hard now, but she pushed herself more. This was her at her core, never content, always wanting more. Suddenly, close enough to the village, she decided to stop. She let herself exhale loudly, struggling to catch her breath now that she had stopped. She bent over, hands on her knees. Ellie could feel the cold weather around her, it was the kind of cold right before it snows; the sky above her seemed to confirm that thought.

After a few minutes, she had caught her breath and was about to turn back when she saw a sliver of platinum blonde hair. There was no doubting that it was Malfoy. What was he doing at Hogsmeade at this time of day? She knew a group of them were going to go to Hogsmeade that weekend but that wasn't for another two days. He was constantly looking over his shoulder as he walked along the streets. An expression of concern was written across his face. She had never seen Draco without his cold and mean demeanor before. She peered over the fence to catch a better glimpse of what he was doing. He was fidgeting with something in his pocket, knocking on the door of one of the buildings. Someone she could barely see opened the door for him barely a crack. Draco took one more look before entering silently.

Ellie didn't know what to make of it. He was certainly hiding something but she wasn't sure what. Maybe it was time to engage him a little bit more to find out. The idea didn't thrill her, but it was the only way to make sense out of what she saw.

\-----------------------

It did snow later that day, and after her classes ended she headed to the Room of Requirement early. She had nothing better to do with the weather outside anyways, she supposed. She entered the room and took in the massive improvement. Now you could tell that this room would be perfect for a ball, or a massive party. It was pretty empty but otherwise it was not too bad.

At that moment, Malfoy entered the room. He didn't look entirely composed, until he saw her. He quickly straightened and settled into his usual arrogant aesthetic. 

"I was hoping I'd miss seeing you at all if I was early. Unfortunately I won't get that pleasure." He snipped. 

"Yes well I've seen you twice today, which is two more times then I would have liked to."

He paused, "We didn't even have potions today. Are you stalking me Ellie?" He smirked, plastering on an over the top flirtatious tone. Unfortunately Ellie blushed but recovered quickly.

"No I would never subject myself to that. I would like to know what you were doing in Hogsmeade today though." He visibly panicked. He strode the distance between them and grabbed her shoulders, pushing her roughly against the wall behind her. She made a noise in shock as she hit the wall, quickly trying to get out from his grip, but he was steady and stronger than his slender frame let on. She met his grey eyes, fury reverberating through the usual cold and emotionless color.

"What did you see?" He demanded, looking down at her with an unmoving grip.

"I- I saw you looking around and entering a building that's all. Jesus Draco, is it that important that you need to do this?" She questioned, angry at her inability to escape from his arms. He loosened his hands and let her go, but he didn't move. He kept his eyes targeted on hers, she felt compelled not to move.

"More important than someone like you could understand. There is something bigger than all of us going on, and sometimes individuals need to step up and become important. But you-" He observed her with detail, and she shallowed, "you are just a body in this. What you've truly done is nothing."

She wanted so badly to retort, but with Malfoy so close to her and saying those words she felt suffocated. After a few seconds, her removed himself and went to continue his duties. Ellie felt as if she couldn't move. What had just happened? She just wanted to know why he had gone there. When people referred to "something bigger than us" they almost always meant a cause. But that still didn't clear up what he had said. She moved to shuffle the furniture near the unnecessarily large fireplace absentmindedly when her her forearm began aching. 

She turned it around and noticed a large bruise had formed, but she didn't remember actually hitting it on anything hard enough for the deep purple that was featured on her arm. She decided she could always come back to the room to finish her hours later, leaving now to get some ice from the hospital wing. Ellie grabbed her bag from the table and turned to see where Malfoy was before she left. She didn't want him telling Dumbledore she left for no reason early. It appeared that she wouldn't have to worry about that though.

He was nowhere to be found. When had he even left and why? She saw him in the room minutes earlier when she had been working on the fireplace. Why did he leave so abruptly? Maybe he was still seething from her confronting him about whatever he was doing in Hogsmeade. Either way, she needed some ice and pain relief potion now.


	7. Sectumsempra

The weekend arrived and Ellie realized with a smile that she was actually excited. Finally with some free time she was going to be able to enjoy a nice day in Hogsmeade with her friends. The snow and cold of the end of October had arrived and with it the need to go outside instead of being cooped up in the Slytherin common room with nothing to do except her remaining homework and have boring conversation with her house members.

She had continued to go to the room of requirement in the days since the unexpected encounter with Malfoy, but he had not made an appearance. She still didn’t know why he left so abruptly. She probably would have noticed as well of her arm hadn’t been hurting so bad at the same time. Ellie looked down at her forearm at that thought. The bruise had fully gone away and it had left quickly after visiting the hospital wing. She didn’t really attribute the healing to madam Pomfrey, however. All she could offer was ice and a potion for managing the pain, which she ended up not needing anyways. For some reason the bruise had gone away almost as quickly as it had appeared. She had a few theories on why that was, including a trick played by the room of requirement on her or maybe a strange move by Draco.

Either way, she was relieved to not feel the jabbing pain that came with the strange bruise. Ellie pulled the sweater sleeve back over her arm and next went to put on a warm coat. The wind chill outside made the snow even colder, and she needed a hat and gloves to make sure she didn’t freeze on the way to Hogsmeade. Grabbing her wand and a few galleons next, she headed to the door to meet Ginny and Hermione.

————————-

Harry and Ron had also joined them for the walk to the bustling little village. 

“Hey Ellie I heard that loser Blaise cut you from the team, I’m sorry to hear that,” Ron had brought up, “if Slytherin wanted a chance at winning the cup this year that was not the right move.” Ellie awkwardly smiled and reassured him it was fine and she understood why. Ron always tried to be nice to her and she appreciated that, but she didn’t want to think about anything other than a fun trip and a nice mug of butter-beer at the moment.

“I guess you’ll have more time for school now at least,” Harry offered sympathetically, “Ginny says you’re at the top of the class.” He glanced over at Ginny for approval, but all he was met with was Hermione’s sharp glance.

“C’mon Harry not so loud in front of Hermione!” Ron teased, knowing that she was still top witch. Ellie laughed slightly and Hermione smiled.

“Sorry that probably seemed weirdly defensive,” Hermione said, “I’ve just been so busy in the library with other things some of my grades are not the best right now.” Ginny scoffed, and the others feigned sympathy. Not the best grades for Hermione was still insanely good.

Soon they arrived to the building Ellie had been waiting for, her craving for butter-beer had grown rapidly recently with the promise of Hogsmeade around the corner. Ginny went to another table to talk to a few friends and flirt with a couple guys while the other three sat a central table. Ellie offered to grab them drinks.

When she got to the bar and was waiting for help she observed the room around her. It was nice to see everyone so relaxed and casual. She smiled to herself as she saw houses mingling and laughter being shared, everyone enjoying being anywhere besides school.

“You need some help getting her attention?” Ellie turned sharply to see Draco beside her. 

“What are you doing here? You blow off community service for the last few days just to go to Hogsmesde to get some butter-beer?” Ellie tried to sound mad but the truth is she didn’t care that he wasn’t there before, it was actually quite pleasant without him around. She was just caught off guard by his presence.

“I actually do need to talk to you.” Ellie thought he was kidding and scoffed, before realizing he was serious. 

“Okay, out with it then.”

“Have you been experiencing any kind of pain recently?” The question put her off balance. 

“What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I’m asking you, now answer the question.” He retorted. Ellie furrowed her brows before replying.

“Umm I’m not going to answer that for real. What are you a doctor? Leave me alone and let me enjoy some drinks with my friends.”

“Right your friends,” Malfoy responded, “the ones who haven’t asked you anything about a mysterious bruise on your arm.” Ellie’s eyes widened.

“How do you even know about that?”

“I know people. Plus you left early from community service.”

“But you left before me?? Where did you go anyways?”

“I’m asking the questions right now. Again I know people. So this time answer, have you experienced any kind of pain lately?”

Ellie paused, considering, before deciding to answer.

“Well yes I suppose so. The pain was over so quick though I barely noticed it. It gets sore when I sleep but it only ever bruised on that day in the Room of Requirement.” He appeared to consider this.

“Why is it when you sleep?”

“I assume I sleep on it at night I don’t know, why do you care?”

“I don’t. How quickly was it gone that day?”

“I would say maybe 30 minutes?” Ellie guessed.

“Interesting...” He looked deep in thought, leaving Ellie thoroughly confused. That was when Ron came up to the bar.

“There you are,” he eyed up Draco, “is he bothering you Ellie?” Malfoy rolled his eyes at Ron’s efforts.

“If I was I won’t be anymore,” Draco stated, “out of my way Weasley.” He pushed past him and towards the exit.

—————-

Ginny and Ellie left together, leaving the other three behind.

“Why are you flirting with other guys so much when it’s so clear you’re into Harry?” Ellie joked.

“Because I’m bored and he won’t make a move what do you want from me?” Ginny was always like that, act now think later.

Ellie was on a high from the day until she learned of Katie Bell’s curse through the rumour mill.

——————

When Katie was better she watched all of her quidditch teammates, and players from other houses, check on her in the Great Hall. What had happened to her wasn’t clear but everyone felt for her. Ellie left into the hallway after checking on Katie personally to get some air. Katie had a community that cared about her, and with disappointment and frustration at herself Ellie realized she was jealous of the support. How awful was that. Ellie knew she had to understand that people refusing to take her side after the incident at the game was fair, and this was completely different. However, somewhere in her mind she was mad about it.

She walked through the hallways, finding a quiet spot outside one of the boy’s bathrooms. Hardly anyone ever used them. Or so she thought.

At that moment, Draco looking panicked and disheveled strode into the bathroom. He was only wearing a suit shirt with a sweater vest, an already alarming sight for him, but his panicked expression topped it off.

“Draco?” Ellie questioned, following him into the bathroom. It was clear he hadn’t heard her. She continued walking in, some part of her needed to know what was wrong. What she saw confused her more.

He looked like an absolute mess of his usual put-together stone-cold self. He had taken off his sweater vest, left only in his crisp white shirt. Hunched over the sink and staring at his crazed-looking reflection, he looked nothing like the boy she had seen not long ago.

His platinum hair was no longer fixed in place, and the grey eyes in his reflection looked terrified. Ellie was about to reach out to him when she heard a noise in the doorway. In panic, she moved into the nearest stall and put herself on the top of the toilet to hide her feet from view. It was a gut reaction.

Without being able to see anything besides the stall door in front of her, Ellie heard a stressed sounding cry. She froze. Was that Draco Malfoy, crying? What could have possibly shaken the bully that badly that he would genuinely cry?

That was when the second pair of shoes entered her view, the owner of the noise earlier. 

“I know what you did to her.” It was Harry. “You cursed her.” 

In a split second, Ellie put two and two together. He was referring to Katie. He was accusing Draco of cursing her. Based on the silence between them and the sputtering of Malfoy, he wasn’t wrong. The silence was palpable and Ellie put her hand over her mouth to quiet her breathing just in case.

Suddenly a spell shot out from Draco’s direction at Harry, with the second boy shooting back immediately. Ellie was terrified at being in the middle of the crossfire. She pulled out her wand and lay a quiet protection charm on herself, anything would be better than acting like a sitting duck. A shot came from below her feet right under the stall. Ellie barely stifled her scream with her hand as tears of panic began forming in her eyes.

That was when Harry yelled out a spell she had never heard of, “Sectumsempra!”

Draco hit the floor with a loud thud that she could hear from the stall that wasn’t even directly beside him. Without the constant shooting of spells back and forth, all that could be heard was the streaming of water from the pipes broken during the fight, and the sounds of Draco struggling to breath. Oh my god what had Harry done to him? His breathing was short, quick and ragged, like every one taken was painful. 

To her absolute horror, the next thing Ellie saw was red blood flowing with the water underneath the stalls. Way too much blood to be losing. The tears forming under her eyes now fell down her cheeks as Draco’s blood washed up near her feet. She had no idea what to do, she’d never heard of a spell like this before. 

Harry apparently was thinking the same thing, as he rushed out the door. Without thinking, Ellie rushed out of the stall and to where Draco’s body lay heaving on the wet floor. A massive gash went across his body as the blood rushed out of him. Not knowing what to do she knelt on the floor beside him, her knees soaked immediately.

“It’s gonna be ok, I’ll find something ok? Just hang in there.” She wasn’t really talking to him, just reassuring herself. His panicked wide-open eyes darted to hers as he struggled with the massive amount of blood he was losing. His breathing intensified, mixing a terrifying combination of tears and complete shock. All she thought to do was a spell to help the pain. She had come up with it when she helped the DA last year, duelling wasn’t her strength, but the anti-pain spell was like a complicated puzzle.

Ellie pulled out her wand and began the movements to ease his pain. She mumbled the words under her breath, her eyes and wand moving across his entire body, relaxing the muscles and slowing his racing heart rate. Finally she moved to his eyes, watching her with blazing intensity, mouth on the verge of coughing up blood. She finished the incantation and closed his eyes, right as Snape burst into the room.

“Out. Now.” He demanded, Ellie complied and rushed out as Snape began to actually heal him.

The second she got outside of the bathroom into the hallway the overwhelming nature of what had just happened suffocated her, and she threw up immediately. She may have hated Draco Malfoy, but nobody deserved that kind of pain.


End file.
